People buy things because they want them. This year, people will buy hundreds of thousands of BMWs because they want them.
People will buy millions of homes because they want them. If you are not doing as much business as you desire, it simply means that people do not want what you offer.

Would you like to make people want what you offer?

Or how about if you started offering what they want?

You have been offering the wrong things. You have likely been offering investments, life insurance, annuities or other similar financial products. People have no interest in these things — they do not want them.

Here's what people want:

safety and security for themselves and their family

no worries

no money problems

to have all risks in life eliminated or handled

to make sure their children are happy and healthy

to create wonderful memories

to be productive

to feel good about themselves and their actions

The top producers in the financial services industry have been offering the above items and that is why those producers do so much
business. Fortunately, it is not very difficult to offer what people want and thereby sell your products to facilitate prospect desires. They win, and you win.

The concept of offering what people want is simple. The difficulty is that you will have to change the way you think and the way you communicate to be a top producer. Until now, you have likely been telling people about your products and services and the features and benefits. You have built logical presentations about why people should buy your stuff. This approach doesn't work much of the time. The approach that works all of the time is when the prospect sees that their desires are fulfilled by doing business with you.

You accomplish this in the following ways:

Throw out your prior sales presentations that are built on explaining the features, benefits and the logical reasons people should buy your products. The presentations provided to you by insurance companies and investment firms are likely of this nature.

Develop a new presentation which is built on questions that you ask the prospect so that the prospect, in thinking about their answers, realizes that doing business with you will fulfill their desires. This is difficult for most producers because they are not accustomed to thinking
this way.

I am suggesting that you have a conversation with prospects very similar to the conversation a therapist might have with their patient. It sounds like this:
(P=prospect, A=agent)

P: I don’t really know why we agreed to meet with you. We really can’t afford any insurance.

A: I do help people get enough insurance, but that’s not really what I wanted to talk with you about. Before I explain that, let me ask you a question. Since we are not going to talk about insurance, why did you set this time to meet?

P: I’m not sure; I guess you might have something useful to tell us.

A: About what?

P: About how to handle our money better.

A: Why, do you feel it’s not handled well now?

P: Well, I make a good living, but it always seems we are behind, never able to do the things we want to do or are important, like get enough insurance.

A: Do you think that everyone has priorities?

P: Yes.

A: What are yours?

P: That confuses me sometimes.

A: Really? Is that your new BMW in the driveway?

P: Yes.

A: Do you have a loan on it?

P: Yes.

A: Well, then I guess your priorities are clear. You have decided to put your family in debt and use your limited cash in order to drive a new German automobile instead of those things you previously alluded to as being important. Would you agree that people set their priorities with their checkbook?

P: Yes. And I don’t really feel good about it.

A: I think you do or you wouldn’t have bought the car. Do you notice that people do what makes them feel good in the moment?

P: Sure.

A: Do you think this leads to the best decisions?

P: No, not at all. I think it’s a little immature.

A: What do you think is mature?

P: Making decisions based on the long-run and things that are really important.

A: What’s really important to you?

P: The health of my family, being able to send my kids to good schools, making sure they are happy and protecting them.

A: Do you feel you have made those things a priority — and is the BMW consistent with that?

P: No.

A: Would you like to get on track and start living aligned with your priorities and making financial decisions consistent with them?

P: Yes.

A: Where do you think you should start?

P: Well, I know I need to start placing money in a college fund, and I know I don’t have enough insurance should anything happen to me.

A: And heaven forbid you become disabled, are those you love protected?

P: I’m not sure if I have enough of that protection through work.

A: You tell me. If I could help you with the items you just mentioned so that you start making financial decisions consistent with your visions for your family, those things that are priorities and living the vision you have of being a responsible father, would that be valuable for you?

P: Yes, that would be unbelievable.

You will not be able to communicate like this without a lot of practice. Of course, the rewards go to people who do the work. So if you
want to sell like top producers do, please practice this with your friends, your significant others and anyone else who will role-play as the prospect. Once you feel comfortable asking powerful, insightful questions, you will make more sales.

About the Author

Larry is the publisher of the WealthyProducer blog (www.wealthyproducer.com). He was a million-dollar producer at Prudential Securities, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and over 30,000 financial advisors have used his marketing systems to rapidly gain clients.